Happy Carl Sagan Day!

In the 1980s, astronomy legend Carl Sagan achieved the impossible: he actually made science popular, thanks to Cosmos: A Personal Voyage,
the epic TV series that's been subsequently viewed by a half-billion
people (and counting) across the world. Today marks the first-ever Carl Sagan Day
and celebrates the 75th anniversary of the astronomer's birth, a day on
which the space geeks of our little planet will pay homage to the man
who's helped us better understand what the rest of the universe is all
about.

The official festivities kicked off at South Florida's Broward College, and include showings of the Cosmos series, magic shows, planetarium programs, and teacher workshops. A host of speakers are also slated to appear, including "Bad Astronomer" Phil Plait and stage magician James Randi,
who's built a career on skepticism toward paranormal activity. His
appearance makes sense, considering Sagan's reputation as a fervent
skeptic of anything associated with the slightest hint of voodoo.
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence," Sagan once
proclaimed.

The events of the first annual Carl Sagan Day
reflect Sagan's underlying goals of making science (in
particular, an understanding of the basic principles of outer space)
accessible to all. "Our species needs, and deserves, a
citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the
world works," he said. And our species, in the context of how the world
works, was an enormous aspect of Sagan's intellectual pursuits. A deep
analysis of the human race's role in the universe is given in Cosmos,
with an emphasis on the idea that earth is essentially insignificant in
the greater scheme of outer space. It was Sagan who famously coined the
idea of earth as a mere "pale blue dot" and inspired the legendary photo of our planet from four billion miles away.

If you're in need of consolation for the fact that the first Carl
Sagan Day festivities are happening about 1,500 miles south of Boston,
comfort yourself with one of myriad Sagan dedications across the Web.

Or,
if you've got nothing to do for the next couple of weeks, explore
YouTube's endless homages, collages, and sly winks, like this samurai
soundbite. (Or you could get your kicks by watching one of the human race's preeminent geniuses fail to cut an apple pie.)

There's even a spoof that dubs Sagan's voice over Agent Smith's in a scene from The Matrix.